Resident Evil: To You, I Give my Life
by a1boogz
Summary: The beginning of a new STARS adventure


Resident Evil: To You, I Give My Life  
by:Al-I-Bus (A1Boogz@aol.com)  
  
Resident Evil and all characters menioned within are creations and property of Capcom. Racoon City is also property of Capcom.  
  
So I was busy looking around Fanfiction.net and to my great delight there was a Resident Evil section. I always thought that the game was perfect for a fanfic. Great characters, great stories, great bad guys. Unfortuanetly, the fics that I've seen there so far have left something to be desired. Now this is not a slight on any of the authors there, I'm sure they all worked hard to put out the stuff there, so read it. After a few successes in the Evangelion fanfic world, I figured I'd expand a little and take a shot at a RE fic. Now I've played and beaten RE Code Veronica, but I didn't play the game the whole way through. The same goes for RE 3:Nemesis. I have been doing my research, though, and I'm pretty sure I have a good grasp of everything. Well.........here I go.  
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It was a nice apartment all else considered. No it looked nothing like the apartments in Friends or Seinfeld. There is a reason that those shows were filmed in L.A. you know. But for Manhatten it was a nice place to live.  
  
Located up on the sixth floor of a midtown high rise, the brick walled joint had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a nice living room area, a kitchen space, and one other room that did not seem to have a designation.  
  
Chris Redfield looked around the apartment and turned to the landlord. This would do.  
" I'll take it."  
  
The landlord smiled happily and rubbed his hands together in delight. Something in his eyes made the man remind Chris of a little grub. But he shook it off and took the lease paper from the man.  
  
Redfield, male, was the veteran of two major Umbrella infections. He had slaughtered countless zombies, leaping creatures without flesh, crawling monstrosities, and flying nightmares. He had, with the help of his significant other, taken out at least two Tyrants. But what he saw before him was definately the most shocking and frightening piece of data his brain had ever computed.  
" HOW MANY ZEROS ARE ON THIS PIECE OF PAPER!?!?!?!?!?!"  
  
The landlord's smile widened, and he raised his hands as if to say it was no longer in his control.  
" Well you see Mr. Redfield, this IS New York City, and I DO have a verbal agreement from you to take the apartment." Chris began to protest, but a wave from the landlord cut him short.  
" I take all precautions Mr. Redfield, this conversation has been recorded, and if you would examine the lease you will see that I have notified you of this fact."  
  
Chris gritted his teeth, holding back variuos utterances and curses against the man, his ancestors, and his descendants. Seeing that he was in a helpless situation, he simply signed his name on the lease, accepted the keys from the landlord and stormed out of the apartment.  
  
As he left the landlord's smile grew wider still.......  
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Jill Valentine sighed and covered her head with her hands. Her head hurt, it hurt a lot. The two morons arguing in the next room didn't help at all. Leon and Claire were a nice bunch. But they never quit. One second they seemed close to becoming all lovey-dovey...the next second they were going at it, Ranma and Akane style.  
  
From the sound of things Claire was winning this round. It was something about a woman they had met in Racoon City. Or rather a woman that Leon had met in Racoon City. Claire started the argument with some rather stinging accusations. Leon tried his best to fend them off, but it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to hold his ground for long.  
  
That was where they were now. Jill was really fed up with it all. Ever since they had been reunited, after Claire had returned from her unscheduled visit to Antartica, it was evident that friendship would not be enough for the pair. But the life they lead kept them from easily forming attatchments that were too deep. It was far too easy to lose someone.  
  
Pulling the pillow from off of her head, Jill lifted herself from the bed and began to enter the hotel room's suite. Just as her hand reached the knob a loud slap echoed through the suddenly silent room. Opening her eyes wide in surprise the ex-STARS team member rushed into the living room.  
  
Claire stood an arms length away from Leon. Jill could see the anger quickly drain out of her face. Leon looked shocked. One of his cheeks was bright red. Neither moved for a minute. Then Claire mumbled something too low for Jill to hear. The shocked expression on Leon's face turned to one of amusement, and he put his hands on Claire's shoulder's. Pulling her towards him, their heads lowered towards each other, eyes closing, lips parting slightly.  
  
Jill decided to make her presence known.  
" Ahem, could you two keep it down some please. Some of us here are tryin to rest you know."  
Leon and Claire nearly fell down trying to untangle themselves. Leon did, in fact. Claire reached down and pulled him up to his feet glaring at Jill the whole time.  
" Well Ms. Valentine, you certainly pick your spots..."  
  
Flashing a brilliant smile at Claire, Jill shrugged her shoulders and disappeared back into the hotel's bedroom. Even with the door shut she could hear Claire's growls of anger.  
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Chris paced outside the entrance to the hotel nervously. He had been doing so for the better part of an hour. They were gonna kill him. Sure they had the funds to deal with it, but the rent on the place was absolutely amazing. On top of that he hadn't even brought them along to see the place. Yes this was going to be a long lonely night on the couch.  
" Good job Redfield.....Jill's gonna murder me, not to mention Claire."  
  
Finally, sick of wearing a hole in the sidewalk, Chris took a seat on a near by bench. The warm afternoon sun shined down over him, illuminating the sidewalk in an air of false hope. Chris observed his surroundings slowly for a moment, then leapt to his feet.  
" Man, what the hell am I doing? They sent me, and I made an executive decision. I'm in charge here anyway, why am I sitting out here with my tail between my legs?"  
  
He took a moment to steel himself and then marched, head held high, into the hotel. The moment he entered the door, a rather dark and ominous looking storm cloud covered the sun and darkened the city sky...  
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" That wasn't a smart thing to do Chris", it was Leon, he stood behind the couch, stifling laughter and busily helping Chris apply icepacks to his various bruises. Chris glared up at him, then grimaced, and replaced an icepack that had slid off of a bruise. Jill hadn't taken the news very well. Neither had Claire for that matter. Well at least it was over.  
  
" You think there's any chance that she'll feel sorry for what she did later?" Chris asked, head tilted to the side thoughtfully, thus causing two more icepacks to slide down onto the floor. Leon just shook his head.  
" I sincerely doubt that mano. Not tonight at least."  
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Far from where our four heros rested and recovered a single man sat down in front of a dimly lit computer. For a moment nothing was audible in the room, then the soft clicking of a computer keyboard could be heard.  
  
The clacking of the keys continued for sometime, then, with an almost inaudible click of a mouse button, the computer session was finished. The machine was shut down, but just before the light from the monitor died out, a slight ray of light glinted off of a pair of dark sunglasses.  
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Racoon City no longer belonged to the living. It no longer belonged to the undead either. What walls remained standing looked as if they had been thrown up by some god, long gone mad. Trees twisted upwards towards the sky at all sorts of strange angles. Entire stretches of road were torn up from the earth. Only the occasional dry scuttle of a cockroach broke the foreboding silence.  
  
The place where the police station stood was now nothing more than a blackened and charred crater in the scorched earth. Pieces of twisted metal littered the ground, marking the area where the first missile had landed, beginnig the end of Racoon City, the second missile had landed at the clock tower moments later.  
  
As if in protest that such a sin could be committed against it, the earth pounded the tainted ground with rain. Wind whipped through the ruined city, giving the earth a voice with which to vent its fury. The storm intensified and the sky added its deep, rumbling, basso voice to the wind's shrill shrieks.  
  
Somewhere deep within the heart of the city, something shifted a pile of rubble. Nature's screams and shrieks grew louder as if in protest. Stones and dirt began to slowly slide down towards the earth as something huge rose from beneath the refuse.   
  
The creature awoke to a world of chaos. The wind tore around it, causing the creature to turn its head slowly, trying to get a sense of its surroundings. The rain streamed down its rippling body, pouring into puddles that began to form around the things clawed toes.  
  
A pair of red eyes glowed in the darkness. Then suddenly they snapped shut. The creature simply stood, as if remembering something. Then, as suddenly as thye had shut, the eyes snapped open again. This time with a terrible look of determination behind them. Newly found muscles flexed and strained as the creature stood upright and threw its head back.  
  
If Racoon City still had residents then they would have noticed that they could no longer hear the rain pound down on the earth, nor the thunder in the sky, or the wind wipping. Instead they would have heard the bloodcurling shriek that cut through the air.  
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To say that Jill Valentine was mad would not have only been stating the obvious, it would have had a good chance to be understatement of the millenium. She was fuming. How dare that moron run out and make a decision like that for all of them. What was he thinking about.  
  
It was times like these that Jill usually turned to Chris for support. He was usually the responsible one, the one who kept his cool and made the good decisions. Well, it was further proof the intelligence on the field of battle in no way amounted to common sense in everyday life.  
  
Jill's train of thought was cut short as she heard a soft knock at the door.  
" What!" she barked, snapping her head towards the door, half rising from her bed.  
" Uhm, Jill...do you think I could come in for a moment?" it wasn't Chris. Jill sighed, almost disappointed, she was looking forward to venting some more of her anger at him.  
" Yeah c'mon in Claire."  
  
Claire Redfield shut the door behind her and walked over to the desk, sitting on it without having a seat offered to her. Jill merely raised an eyebrow, well that was how the girl was.  
  
Claire shot Jill that little cocksure smile she had.  
" Big 'bro kinda fucked up didn't he?" Jill only nodded curtly in reply. She really didn't feel like playing Claire's mind games right now.  
" You know he didn't mean to cause any trouble, Jill, he was just trying to do right by us."  
  
Sighing Jill rose from the bed,  
" Not to be rude or anything, but I already know all that hun. You weren't exactly all smiles and giggles either when he shared the news. In fact you hit him first."  
Claire turned a slightly red at the remark, but she had come into the room with a purpose.  
" You're right Jill, but I didn't come in here to talk about my bungling brother actually." that surprised Jill a litte. She had assumed this was a standard apology for friend's action speech that people give.  
" Well then Claire...what seems to be on your mind."  
  
Claire's face turned brighter red, she hopped up off of the desk and walked over to the door. Opening it quickly she looked right and left then shut the door behind her again. A shy smile crossed her face.  
" Leon....."  
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" Claire....I wish you would listen to me." Leon was almost pleading now. She could see the hurt in his eyes, but she wasn't about to let up now. She was on a roll.  
" Listen!!! Why!!!! So you can feed me more lies. Claire I want to be closer to you, Claire I've never felt the way I feel right now, Claire I don't know what I'd do without you." She made extra sure to add just the right amount of disdain to her voice.  
" Did you feed Ada those lines too?"  
  
Leon tried to say something, but Claire cut him off:  
" I know all about your little adventures in the sewers of Racoon City. Following her all around, being led around by your little, teeny-weenie ........"  
This time it was Claire who was interrupted.  
" Claire!!! Will you shut up and listen to me!!!"   
  
He walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She leapt a bit as she felt a jolt of electricity surge through her at his touch. He was talking now, but she wasn't really listening to what he was saying. She was paying more attention to observing him as he spoke. His mouth was gorgeous. It mesmorized her, the way he worked his lips when he was speaking. There!!! The way he ran his tongue over those lips when he felt the need to. Then there was his nose. It was so damned cute. not teddy bear cute, and not model sexy. Just plain cute. Her little daydream was interrupted as something he said caught her attention.  
" What did you just say?"  
  
" I said, don't go and act all innocent, I know about you and your island buddy Steve."  
That was when she had slapped him. It happened before she even realized it. one moment he was talking, the next her arm shot out. She regretted it instantly, and in that moment knew that Steve Burnside hadn't meant much to her on anything other than a friend level. But, losing him still hurt.  
  
Claire turned around, refusing to face him, knowing that if she did, he would be able to see it all. See all the emotions that she kept tightly inside of herself hidden away from him. She was scared. The situation wasn't in her control anymore. She could feel his eyes on her back.  
" Leon...Steve.......Steve was a friend. He wanted to be more, he might have been more. But... I was....I was already in love with someone else."  
  
His hands on her shoulders turned her around:  
" Claire...You're not a second choice. I love you."  
She shut her eyes and tilted her head up, waiting. She could feel him drawing nearer, nearer...his warm breath on her face, she could almost taste his lips....that's when Jill had come in.  
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" It's that bad huh?" a sad smile crossed Jill's face for a moment.  
" Let me ask you something Claire," Claire returned from dreamland, glancing over at Jill:  
" Would you really had picked Leon over Steve?", immediately Jill regretted asking the question.  
  
Claire's face fell. She turned away form Jill for a moment and then turned back. When she did Jill could see a single tear glide down her face. She was smiling, however:  
" Steve....he was like....he was like an angel. Something placed before you so you could see how good it could be...how cool it might have been. But he wasn't reality. In fact he was never part of any plan. I think that Leon.....It wasn't an accident that we met."  
  
At this point a look of joy crossed her face:  
" And I'm so happy we did." Jill nearly threw up. the girl was being so sickeningly sweet. She sighed wistfully  
" I wish it was that straight forward for me......"  
  
But Claire didn't hear her, she was already up and moving towards the door.  
" Hey Jill thanks for the chat....." Jill raised an eyebrow, curious  
" Where you off to so fast?"  
  
Reaching the doorknob and turning, Clair flashed Jill that smile of hers again.  
" I have to go talk to a guy about a man." And with that she was gone. Jill just smiled and shook her head slowly.  
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it was night over the Atlantic Ocean. The birds were all in from sea, and the ocean itself was unsettlingly still. No fishing skiffs skimmed the surface, and no ocean liners were making crossings here. No things were pretty much calm.  
  
Except at the ocean floor where a massivly muscled creature was making its way eastward. It had been hours since the creature had awoken in the remnents of Racoon City and began its long march towards......towards what?  
  
The creature stopped, its mind worked furiously. Sudden images flashed through its head. A child...a little girl, men, many of them with....with.... what!!!!! The creature flailed at the water in frustration. It could not remember. But it could feel the calling. So it put its head back down, and resumed its trek eastward.   
  
A trail of dead sharks marked the path it had traveled.  
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Unhappiness wasn't the emotion being felt right now. Despair summed it up much better. It had been sometime since Carlos had escaped Racoon City with Jill, but not much had gone well since then.  
  
After hooking Jill up with her STARS friends, Carlos had left, promising to return to them. His first move was to return to the apartment that he and his other team members had shared briefly before the debacle that was Racoon City. As he pulled up to the complex he knew something was up.  
  
For starters the amount of armed guards around the place had increased tenfold easily. From zero to ten, and that was just the amount of guards he could see. But Carlos had to get inside.  
  
Calling to mind the building plan that he had memorized before he had departed, Carlos mentally sketched out an assult plan on the building. He figured that they would have a man posted by the exhaust pipes at the back of the building, but he didn't imagine there being more than one. Picture his surprise when he saw four heavily armed soldiers, standing around the back of the building.  
  
Stealthily creeping back to his car, Carlos came to a resolution. He'd get into his apartment.  
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It was still quiet. The guard shook his head in frustration. he had a nice piece lined up for tonight, but it would be his luck that he would draw guard duty. no one was ocming back to this stpid building, he wondered why the higher ups at Umbrella didn't realize it.  
  
Suddenly, his peaceful evening was ruined. A car engine roared to life near him, but he couldn't see it in the dark. It turned out that he didn't need to see it, he felt it slam into him, but, mercifully, never felt the car crush him against the wall.  
  
Carlos jumped out of the jeep and sprinted up the steps. A shadowed figure moved into his vision at the top of the stairs, but before he could get his bearings Carlos emptied two rounds form his silenced beretta. The hired muscle dropped to the floor and Carlos leapt over his now still body.  
  
Sprinting around the corner he began to count the doors as he neared his apartment. Five...six....seven..eight....here!!! Pausing for a moment, Carlos fired a shot at the door knob, then slammed his shoulder into the wodden door. He could hear the frame split, as the door groaned and gave in.  
  
Bullets peppered the floor and walls as, Carlos dove into the empty apartment. Rolling as he hit the floor, Carlos ended up behind the couch, exactly where he wanted to be. Reaching with his free hand under the piece of furniture, his fingers grazed against an unevenness in the floor. He grabbed and pulled the floor away and reached down into the pit.  
  
Feeling cold steel, Carlos wrapped his fingers around the M5 and pulled it out from its hiding place. Not taking time to aim, Carlos fired a round towards the door he had dove through moments earlier. Screams of anguish met his ears as he continued to raid the supply hole.  
  
Finally, satisfied with his haul, Carlos fired another grenade round at the door and sprinted towards a window at the far end of the apartment. Firing two berretta rounds at the glass, he hoped that the dumpster hadn't been moved. The three story fall might not kill him, but a broken leg or two was definately not on his wish list right now.  
  
The glass shattered around him as he began the descent. Bullets whizzed through the air all around him, but Carlos was already plummeting towards the......car parked beneath him. Well it looked like they had moved the dumpster. He braced himself for the impact.  
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The landlord stood up from his computer. He had his orders. As usual the email was signed by A.W. He shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't his business where the orders came from, and as long as those checks kept coming in, well then who was he to argue?  
  
The landlord looked down at the check in his hand. Well whoever Umbrella Inc. was, they certainly had a lot of money to spend.....  
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Claire knocked on the door. Nothing. She sighed, and knocked again, this time adding a little kick to make sure she was heard. Some scuttling and shifting could be heard from the room's occupant, and a moment later a bleary-eyed Leon pulled the door open.  
  
For a moment both stood looking at each other. Not a word was uttered between the pair. Then Claire pushed him back into the room and shut the door behind her, but not before hanging up a ' Do Not Disturb' sign on the knob.  
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That oughta do it. And here goes the first installment of this fic. Um emails are welcome, including flames at A1Boogz@aol.com. I'd also like to ask someone with some knowledge of the RE novels to drop me a line describing and explaining this whole, White Umbrella thingie. I didin't play enough of RE:CV to really get a grasp of what it was. Anyway I'm gone, hoped ya'll liked it.  
--Bus  
  



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